Tuesday Mac Mods

Jeff Paradiso writes "If you want a Mac tablet make it! Using an original iBook, a touch screen from Troll Touch Touchscreen, a bigger Hammer, and a heat gun you can make it. Kids don't try this at home." Will this work with Inkwell? And Riscx writes "Thought a few of you would like to see puter modifications I did to a Mac G4. Enjoy." Mmmm, blue.

Black on Grey

[Johnny Mnemonic]

Friends don't let friends use black text on a grey blackground. Sure it looks cool, but you have to read it, too. Reminds me of the spaceship from one the HitchHiker's books with black text on black labels on a black surface! Cool! Undriveable!

Re:Black on Grey

[mkelley]

according to the source:

BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF"

USB Cable on the Tablet

[big_oaf]

He needs to hide it. Go internal and solder it to the MB. It just looks fugly sticking out there.

Re:USB Cable on the Tablet

[Jeff paradiso]

the usb is hard to get to with a cable and i did not want to kill the mother BM yet . :)

nice

[tuanjim_2001]

I have to admint that this is very nice. Some ideas on improvement. First on the velcro, plastic welding. Obviously once you get this finished od the welding. Hopefully it wouldn't completly trash everything. Second and previously mentioned the ugly USB cable. Yes soldering it to the MB would work. That should take care of that. Third, a paint job to get rid of those unsightly plazstic welds and make it less obvious on what you did. Totally useless but it would make it quasi-professional looking. Keep up the good work.

Re:nice

[JabberWokky]

If you read a little bit of the text, the velcro is there because he is still working on it - doing things like routing the USB cable inside the case. He says when he is done, the velcro will disappear, and the case will be sealed.

--
Evan

Re:nice

[Jeff paradiso]

I am woriking on cleening it all up. I dont know if i have the skill to put the usb to the MB kinda hard to get to the pins with a cable.

Re:nice

[tuanjim_2001]

Ok I'll be the first to say that I don't know anything about iBooks. But if it is straight pin A to socket A on USB, you could just hack off the connectors and solder it down real good. Yes google would be good with this but I'm at work now and can't justify more time on the net.

Re:nice

[Jeff paradiso]

I still need the usb port for other stuff so i hv eto keep it

Re:Sweet

[Jeff paradiso]

email me and we can talk about it ... [e-mail]

apple ghetto

[brarrr]

my favorite thing about the little apple ghetto we have here, is that there is little/no slashdot effect for sites like these.... finally i can read the news the day it comes up

this looks like a job for...

[zephc]

InkWell!

This guy needs to upgrade to OS X and try InkWell tech on there =D

Re:this looks like a job for...

[Jeff paradiso]

I am getting a rom for the touch screen soon so I can use it with OSX but Ink well only work with a Wacom tablet.

Re:this looks like a job for...

[RevAaron]

I wish InkWell would work with more. :( There's no reason that it wouldn't work with *all* Macs running OS X, I'm very disapointed in Apple's restrictions on InkWell. One more step pushing me away from Apple and toward a better future. [swiki.net] After all, InkWell is derived from the Newton OS 2.x handwriting recognizer, which ran on 20 MHz ARM610, 25 MHz ARM710 and 162 MHz SA110 CPUs at a very good speed.

I'd probably attempt to convert my iBook2 into a tablet like one of the authors of one of those links did, but without InkWell, there's really no motivation for me to do so. I don't think there is any other usable HWR for OS X, OS 9, or even Linux/PPC. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to stick with my original plan- to sell my ibook and Jornada 720 and buy an OQO when they come out!

Re:prices??

[EccentricAnomaly]

jeesh... I'm a troll for wondering how much touch screesn cost? the web site doesn't have any prices and I can't call from work...

I though someone is slashdot land would have called and found out..

What would bug me...

[stoney27]

From the pictures I see finger prints all over the screen. I don't know if you can see them when you are using the tablet. But that is one thing I can't stand is finger prints on a screen that I am trying to read from.

So I would need a screen that would not pick up the finger prints as easily.

-S

Re:What would bug me...

[Jeff paradiso]

the prints are from the flash when you use it you can't see them

Predicting the future

[ethersalamander]

Wait for the cease and desist letter from Apple. If it comes, then we all know that the iSlate is due for imminent release.

--

Nice But...

[beswicks]

I really wish that apple would build this... [mac.com]

Its a shame that technology isn't as cutting edge as peoples dreams...

Pretty Nice. . . alot cheaper than the Gemini. . .

[DansnBear]

I work for United Cerebral Palsy and I have the oppurtunity to see the latest in augmentative technology first hand. The ironry of this article right now is that i am writing this response from a modified iBook right now that a company sent me to demo. This project is extremely similar to this Gemini made by AssistiveTech. (http://www.assistivetech.com/p-gemini.htm [assistivetech.com]) Basicly, they take a revision 2 or 1 iBook, and retrofit it with a touch screen, completely contained inside of the original case. . . I was suprised, because mosst augmentative devices are speciality products, designed to preform the task (i.e. - verbal comunication, speech therapy. . . ) where as the Gemini contains all the software to do this, plus, it's a full blown mac. It looks like it was ment to have the touchscreen in it from the begining. The only thing I dont like about it is the $6,500.00 price tag. . . oh well, at least I have a week more with it before I have to send it back to them.